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Saturday, March 20, 2010

My Life and Times as a Nudist

Shocked, are you? Sorry to disappoint you about my goody-two-shoes image that some of you may have about me. Can you forgive me? It was all in my past, you see, and it was so long ago. I was the same person then as you’ve come to know now, only younger, naïve, and oh so innocent back then.

Without further ado, here’s my story.

For almost three years, I was a nudist. But before I became a nudist, I was this spoiled city girl—a daddy’s girl—who lived in a house with modern amenities like indoor plumbing and electricity. You have to understand that in the Philippines at that time, some 40-odd years ago, this was living well above the poverty level.
Unfortunately, all that changed when my father died. My mother had married my father when she was only fourteen years old. (They had to lie about her age, saying that she was sixteen, so the Catholic Church would marry them.) Other than owning her own businesses, that my father had financed, my mother never worked for anyone during her entire married life. Unfortunately, due to her being illiterate, every single one of her businesses had shortly gone bankrupt within a year or two. Therefore, when my father died, she had no marketable skills. In short, she had no means of supporting us, her three youngest children. (There were nine of us, and I was the youngest.) My much older, married siblings offered to take us into their homes.

I had just turned seven years old when my father died. Six months after his passing, I went to live with my oldest sister and her family in one of the most remote mountain regions of the Philippines, where my sister and her husband taught school.

When I first arrived there, I was shocked to see people naked, bathing and swimming in the river. I’d never seen naked people before, aside from seeing my own body when I was showering in privacy. I’d never gone swimming before either, so I didn’t know how to swim. I also didn’t have a bathing suit. In the beginning, I just observed everyone. Then I went wading in the river with a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Kids there thought I must be crazy or something. All eyes were on me each time they saw me in the water fully clothed. When I eventually learned how to swim, I found out that wearing my t-shirt and shorts made swimming much more difficult. They were dragging me down. My niece, who is two years older than I, went swimming naked, and so did all the other kids our age. I decided to become one with the natives; I had to adapt to their lifestyle.

Even at my young age, I felt embarrassed to be naked, even, amongst the throngs of other naked people. I felt so self-conscious and uncomfortable. However, the feelings didn’t last for very long, because then, the other kids didn’t pay much attention to me anymore. To them, I was just another nude body. I didn’t stand out in the crowd anymore. So, for the almost three years that I lived there, I was a nudist.

You’re probably asking yourselves what the adults did, eh?. Well, from what I recall, the native adult, married women would normally be dressed in their woven wrap-around skirts with no tops on. I don’t think that they wore underwear, either. I know what you men out there are thinking and imagining. But go ahead, it’s a free country. Just don’t be blaming me for any ill/good effects of your thoughts and wild imagination. You’re on your own on that one.

Where was I? Oh, yeah, I was talking about the women. Anyway, when the women took their baths, they’d go to one of the more secluded areas where there were a lot less people. They’d unwrap their skirts, being careful not to show their pubic hairs to anyone, especially to adult males, by repositioning one leg. (Just in case there were any adult males out there in the bushes, peeping…I wouldn’t know.) Once they put their skirts neatly on the ground, they then put their hands over their pubic area as they walked to the river until they submerged their bodies in the water waist deep.

Come to think of it, I don’t recall seeing adult males taking baths where we bathed. Perhaps they took their baths somewhere else. I’ve never seen my sister go swimming or taking a bath in the river, either. I remember her taking baths in the makeshift bathroom outside of their house, using the water that we fetched from the river well. I suppose she was too proper and modest to be one of us nudists.

My life as a nudist had to end though when I went to live with my other sister and her family in a province where nudity of any kind was considered a taboo. Also, as I became a young adult, I became aware of all the changes that my body had undergone. With that, I became overly self-conscious again, to the point that, for a short time into my marriage, I didn’t even allow my husband to see me naked! Poor man. He had to use a lot of his imagination, I suppose.

Well, that’s all folks!

If you’ve enjoyed this one, be sure to check in every now and then for more stories about my life as a native.

15 comments:

Tasha - I'm sorry to read your father died when you were so young. You've had a extraordinary adolescent life and I believe these unusual circumstances made you become a sensitive and insightful writer.I really enjoyed reading how you grew up!

Hi Duni,Thanks so much for your kind words. I was indeed too young when my father died. Too young to even realize that death meant never seeing the dead person again. It was until I was nine years old that I realized what death truly meant. Since then, I'd cry during funerals, not for that particular dead person, but for my father whom I'll never see again. I know it's humorous to think now about my behavior then.

Tasha- what interesting life experiences you've had! Nudity is such a strange thing. Not the actual act of being nude, I guess that's not strange at all, but the social side of nudity, where it's acceptable, where it's not. I once took a 5-week mission trip to Istanbul, and we went to a traditional Turkish bath, which is all women (the men have a different section), and you only wear panties, nothing else. I thought it would be weird, but I was amazed how quickly I got used to the whole thing.

anyway, thanks for your comment on my blog, and thanks for the interesting read.

I almost did a double take at that title, LOL. It's amazing how different regions of the world view nudity in such varied ways. When I was in Germany, it was common practice for women to sunbath topless in any public park or beach. They also had a few nude beaches. You could always tell the American guys, eyes wide mouth gapping in surprise.

It's interesting to me that such distinction was made between adults and children in that village. Certainly speaks well for the "natives". Then the fact that different regions of the same islands view the prospect of nudity so diversely.

I'm so sorry you lost your father at such a young age. That had to be difficult.

PS, I finally got the connection fixed. Long and very aggravating story.

Oh I have never heard about your life as a child. That is a book in the making there. How sad for you to lose your father at such a young age but how great you had lots of older siblings too. Do you still keep in close contact with them all? I loved reading this post and look forward to reading many more. Its your great chidhood that has made you the wonderful woman you are. hope you are well and not working too hard!!

Hi Lily,Thanks so much of your kind words. I'm not sure if anyone would be interested in reading my life in a book form. I have to be very famous befor anybody would be interested, I think. So for now, I'll just post bits and pieces.

This was published in 2010, but it's only now that I'm reading it, after 7 tears. Wow, blogs are eternal. Yes these are poignant memories. I remember those days too, because I was that 2 year older niece you talked about.

Nudity is not viewed maliciously by the natives that's why nobody bothered about it. Those days, fresh water, green lush trees, rice fields, catching fish with our bare hands, those were the heavenly days for me, simple and unadulterated live. I hope we an ho back there someday. :D